The Locket
by astrum-faith
Summary: Leo wonders about the locket Karone never seems to wear. One day, he asks her about it - this is what she tells him. Please R&R. Friendship, but you can imagine it leads somewhere romantic if you want to.


Disclaimer: If Power Rangers _was _mine, you would know it, okay? In fact, my pen name would be 'I OWN POWER RANGERS - HA HA, YOU DON'T' (...okay, maybe not that, 'cause that's mean, but you get the idea) - anyway, as you can see, it isn't. How depressing. :(

I came up with this when I realised that Karone doesn't wear her locket in lost galaxy, and Andros doesn't either when the Astro Rangers visit Terra Venture. I didn't think it made sense that they would just have ditched them, so I decided to write down my explanation for it. You can have your own ideas about why they don't wear them - this is just mine.

* * *

**The Locket**

Leo sauntered into Maya and Karone's room. He hadn't meant to make an entrance, (on the contrary, he had hoped to slip in and out in silence without making it obvious that he was intruding) but…he was thinking, and with Leo that meant he was being careless.

"Can I help you, Leo?" He froze, glancing up to where the voice seemed to come from. For a moment he didn't see anyone, but then the pink ranger stood up and moved closer, curiosity in her eyes. "I thought you'd be with the others. If you're looking for them…"

"No, I wasn't. I didn't see you at first - what were you doing on the floor?"

"Sitting, thinking. So, what was it you wanted?"

"Actually, I wanted to ask you something. I hope this won't sound rude, but…"

"Yes? Come on, Leo, spit it out."

"Well, the space rangers came to visit us shortly before your arrival, to help us with the Psycho Rangers" (Karone visibly winced at the thought of the evil cyborgs she had created during her reign of terror) "And…Andros had something in his pocket at one point, and I think it may have been...the same as the one you have under your pillow...?"

"What do you mean, under my…? Oh." Karone went to the bunk, returning a second later with a silver locket in her right hand. Leo was a little surprised at how relaxed she seemed about showing him the piece of jewellery - it was obviously valuable to her, at least sentimentally. He hastily clarified when he had seen it, in order to reassure her that he hadn't been searching through her stuff.

"I saw yours a couple of days ago - when there was that massive pillow-fight at like 3am. You slipped it out of sight before anyone noticed it."

"Clearly you noticed," she muttered, but Leo continued.

"I remembered Andros's one - it was identical. And I was wondering…"

"…why we don't wear them?" Karone finished. Leo gave her a nod and sat down. With a sigh, she joined him. "You have to understand, Leo, that when I was under Dark Specter I knew I'd had a family. Sure, I was told they were dead, but I'd had them once. For years - in fact, for _two thirds_ of my _life_ - this was all I had. This locket was my only connection to people I would never know." Leo gently touched her arm, worried she would cry - her voice was quieter than usual, and he really didn't want someone to catch them sitting there with Karone in tears - how would he explain _that_? Fortunately for him, Karone took a deep breath and continued as if her voice had never wavered. "When Andros came along, everything changed. The locket…his was the same, and I saw that. The pictures inside…" she opened hers up, "…they were the same too. Even Astronema couldn't deny that. Suddenly it all made sense, and the locket was the key to it all; that was why I had to be brainwashed by Dark Specter. After I became Karone permanently, after the attack on Earth, the locket was more of a painful reminder than a comfort, because I associated it with getting kidnapped by Dark Specter that second time."

"And Andros?"

"He saw I wasn't wearing mine, and he realised. I guess he'd never thought to take it off, but he kinda relaxed when he wasn't constantly reminded of our years apart." Both of them were aware that there was slightly more to that part of the story than Karone was admitting, but she clearly wasn't going to volunteer the information and Leo didn't want to push his luck.

"You guys still keep them, though; why? I mean, you wouldn't exactly get rid of them, but his was in his pocket, and you - yours is _hidden_. You guys still protect them, keep them close..."

"Painful as the memories are, I don't want to forget. In fact, my locket gave me hope, and Andros's gave him that and more. If I'm honest, I don't think I would have survived long enough to find Andros if I hadn't had my locket to reassure me that there was something worth living for, even if I believed that something was already dead itself. Andros probably wouldn't have lasted as long either; he had other pictures, but he was also trying to deal with Zhane being in cryo, so it was harder for him, in a way... What I'm trying to say, Leo, is this: just because something hurts doesn't make it bad." Leo nodded. "Can you understand that?"

"Yes, I think I can."

"Good. Now, if it's alright with you, I'm going to go find Maya. She promised to tell me more about Mirinoi."

"Okay. See you later." When Karone had left, Leo picked up the locket from they had been sitting and tucked it under her pillow. "I _do _understand, Karone. More than you think."

* * *

Please review! I don't have that many ideas, and I'm happy with the way I wrote this, so... comments? Please? Anyone?

And if I messed up with Leo, please tell me, 'cause I don't know as much about the LG characters as I do about some of the others, so I may have screwed up his personality a little.

(PRESS THE SHINY BUTTON!

SHINY MEANING GOOOD!!!

PRESS IT NOW!)

^_^


End file.
